general problems of the 2020 Chrysler Pacifica

Third row randomly closes on my kids who are buckled in them. I've reported this to the dealer shortly after getting my van in 2021. Brought it back to them twice where they found "no problem", then I made an additional report here last year after it closed on them an excessive amount of times and I felt helpless. I was forced to move the child who was sitting in the back to front seat after it closed on them multiple times in one ride. A head on collision occurred a few miles down the road with my child in front seat. He was injured more than he should have ever been, due to needing to be moved from the rear of the van. Furious Chrysler did not take my previous complaints more seriously.

Cable system inside 2nd row seat broke so that it can no longer anchor in place. The back of the seat folds back/forth and unable to secure in place, the seat slides forward/backward freely on the track. Seems to be a known issue (multiple forums online).

Both middle seats have failed. The cable that allows the seat to slide tilt forward has a very strong spring and a very weak plastic housing. The replacement cable is unavailable because they’ve had so many issues with this happening. There are years of complaints on reddit regarding this problem. The seat won’t lock upright or lock in place. I built a workaround to make the seat usable again.

We have a broken 2nd row captain's chair on the passenger side. The seat broke with my child's car seat in it so we didn't notice until we took the carseat out and noticed the seat back was swinging freely forward and back and would not latch. In doing some research we found dozens of other people with similar age Pacificas with identical problems. You can see some details here; [xxx] some in this forum have mentioned this specific seat part is needed for the repair: mopar part number 68324912ac - latch release cable it is extremely scary to me this seat latch could just break as the seatback would put the passenger in extreme danger in an accident. I hope you can investigate! information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Both 2nd row quad seats have failed. The lever for leaning the seat forward pulls a cable that has a large spring in a plastic housing that fails. It failed on both seats within the same day in a hot weather environment. After failure, the seats both slide and tilt without the ability to lock into position. This is a huge safety concern as it provides no restraint to the occupant. There are hundreds of accounts of this same issue on forums and reddit posts and highly documented the part that is failed. I have taken to a dealer for repair but fear it will happen again if the part has not been redesigned by stellantis. There is no warning to this failure so it can happen at any time. Thankfully we were at home when it failed and not stranded somewhere else. With the hundreds of instances I have read accounted online, it is shocking that this is not a recall yet.

The spring in the cable that operates the recline and fold function of the passenger captain’s chair failed. The seat is perpetually stuck in “loose” causing the seat back to recline and fold forward freely. Because this function is also part of the fold and move forward function, the seat also becomes unsecured and glides forward and backward on the track freely. This spring failure happened while my child’s car seat was installed and we drove around for an unknown period of time with the unsafe seat. The car seat kept the seat back stable so it remained locked but as soon as the car seat was removed it was able to unlock on its own and move on the track, etc. This has happened to other Pacifica vans according to the internet.

The second row seats recline locking mechanism failed. It does not lock leaving the seat to collapse and extend. It is unsafe because it does not lock making it unsable for anyone that sits in it and could cause injury. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer or anyone. I am taking to dealership. Last time I did they did not inspect but told me they have seen problem before and requires seat replacement at $3600 per seat. I left without inspection when one seat failed. Now my other second row seat is also failing. My car is no longer able to transport my children as I do not have enough available safe seats with the second seat failing. There were no warning lamps. I noticed this when my daughter said her seat was moving while I was driving.

Steering wheel gets stuck in place when making wide turns and especially curves on winding roads. You have to jerk steering wheel out of what feels like a locked/stuck position. Power steering light (lamp) comes on with noise but immediately turns off. Power steering light has been coming on and off inconsistently starting in 2023. I have many videos/pictures of light on. It has never stayed on for long enough time to get it to dealer still lit and I do not have money for the diagnostic testing that dealer says they require just to have said dealer look at it and tell me they can't replicate the problem therefore there is no problem. I've been terrified of it overcorrecting itself when coming out of the stuck position while at high speeds or on narrow high elevation roads resulting in a serious accident injuring or killing myself and my family or someone else on the roadways. Back seat (3rd row) driver side half folds itself down at random times without indication. It has trapped my kids several times, which makes me worry for their safety/suffication when we have to use that seat. It tends to happen more when the temperature is cold outside. This began before 65k miles. I took it to dealer for inspection and they called it a user error. This is not a user error and has happened more than 50 times in 4 years. Nothing is stored under the seat and no buttons were within access to children any of the times the seat malfunctioned and closed on my children. My 2020 Chrysler Pacifica is a true safety hazard. It is available for inspection at anytime.